Browse lesson plans

Along the Trail of Tears

A part of history is often forgotten when teaching younger students. This is the relocation of the Cherokee Indians when the white settlers wanted their property. The US Government moved whole groups of Indians under harsh conditions. This trip became known as the Trail of Tears. Using this as a background students will explore and experiment with persuasive writing as they try to express the position of Cherokee leaders.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Glenda Bullard.

Blackbeard: The most feared pirate of the Atlantic

Students will acquire information about Blackbeard and apply their knowledge to create a newspaper article concerning his life.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Carol Holden and Tanya Klanert.

Civil War journals

This lesson integrates creative writing with Social Studies and enhances knowledge of the effects of the Civil War on people.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Gwen A. Jones.

Civil War Tribune

This lesson focuses on student creativity along with the writing process. Art is also incorporated in a unique way. Students will use their research skills to complete a creative writing project on the Civil War.

Format: lesson plan (grade 5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Aimee Adkins.

Family story with research

Using the book, When The Legends Die and a Native American story-telling unit, students gather a family story of their own.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Eric Broer.

George Washington and Frederick Douglass letters: Recognizing point of view and bias

In Where English and history meet: A collaboration guide, page 4

This lesson uses two letters written by famous individuals. Frederick Douglass, a well-known former slave who became a leader of the American abolition movement, escaped from slavery in Maryland to freedom in New York in 1838. George Washington was a large slaveholder in Virginia (as well as the first president of the United States).

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Karen Cobb Carroll, Ph.D., NBCT.

Hidden stories: A three-part lesson in African American history, research, and children’s literature

In this high school lesson plan, students will create a timeline of African American history, review a work of children's literature, and then create their own works of children's literature drawing on a primary source document pertaining to the life of an ordinary African American.

Format: lesson plan (grade 11–12 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Edie McDowell.

Native American poetry workshop

This week-long set of lessons uses four different center activities to help students respond to poetry written by American Indians. This lesson plan was written with ESL (English as a second language) students in mind, so there are many opportunities to practice vocabulary, discuss and talk with others, and model expectations.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Liz Mahon.

Paired writing: Hoover and FDR

Taking on the persona of FDR and Hoover, students will write responses to citizens seeking help with real world problems.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Social Studies)

By Angie Panel Holthausen.

Pliny and the Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

The purpose of this lesson is to use earth science concepts--from volcanology--to explain to students studying the letter of Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus how Mt. Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Students will study and demonstrate mastery of the eruption and its historical impact through a webquest on Pompeii, reading of an articles with appropriate content-area reading support, participation in interactive lecture, writing of a journal entry about life in Pompeii at the time of the eruption, oral presentations on life in Pompeii, reviewing of the grammatical functions of all tenses of participles, and using a rubric to evaluate a video on Pompeii to be used for instruction.

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Second Languages)

By Gregory King-Owen.

Writing a ghost story/mystery

Building upon the students' knowledge base of Blackbeard the Pirate, the numerous shipwrecks off of the N.C. coast, myths, and legends of the Carolinas, and/or The Lost Colony, students will write a ghost story or mystery narrative of their own.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By laura ritchie.

Resources on the web

Corridos about the Mexican Revolution

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students explore causes of the Mexican Revolution and key revolutionary figures. They will gain an understanding of a particular Mexican song form, the corrido, and its role as a vehicle for communicating... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts, Music Education, Second Languages, and Social Studies)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Cyberspace explorer: Getting to know Christopher Columbus

In this lesson, students participate in a cyber scavenger hunt to find information about explorer Christopher Columbus. After the teacher engages students in a discussion about their knowledge of the explorer, the class suggests other questions they would... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Computer/Technology Skills, English Language Arts, and Social Studies)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Designing museum exhibits for “The Grapes of Wrath”: A multigenre project

This lesson asks students to focus on one issue from the Depression as it applies to the novel, The Grapes of Wrath. Working alone or with a partner, students create artifacts in a variety of genres for a museum exhibit that... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 11 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Form and theme in the traditional Mexican Corrido

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students learn about the traditional Mexican musical form of corridos, which dates back to the 1800s and continues to be very popular. Activities in this lesson engage students in online learning,... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts, Music Education, Second Languages, and Social Studies)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Ghosts and sea monsters: Analyzing mythology

In this high school language arts lesson, students discuss the characteristics of myths. They then examine historical maps of North Carolina looking for images of sea monsters and write their own descriptions of the monsters and myths about them. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts)

Provided by: UNC Libraries

Giving voice to history

In this ARTSEDGE lesson, students explore a somber period in American history. During World War II the U.S. government ordered more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to detainment camps. Drawing upon research and analyzing a variety of sources, including... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Learning about research and writing using the American Revolution

This lesson combines historical research and acrostic poetry. After listing all they know about the American Revolution, students work in groups to answer the questions they have about this historical period. Then, after reading If... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Scripting the past: Exploring women's history through film

In this lesson, students employ the screenwriter's craft to gain a fresh perspective on historical research, learning how filmmakers combine scholarship and imagination to bring historical figures to life and how the demands of cinematic storytelling can... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Theater Arts Education)

Provided by: EDSITEment

What is history? Timelines and oral histories

This lesson from EDSITEment aims to help students understand history and recognize that the past is different depending on who is remembering and retelling it. There are four activities, in which students construct a timeline based on events from their... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

Provided by: EDSITEment